We’re all aware that many people feel that we must be careful when focusing on money or affluence or abundance… that in the pursuit of those things there is danger. All I (Jim Rohn) do agree. If you make money your love and pursue affluence to the exclusion of other values in life, you have lost, not won.
However, let’s consider this question: if you could do better financially, should you? That’s not a bad question. In the time you’ve allotted to labor, economics, success, achievement, productivity, the creation of value, the development of skills and creativity, if you could do better, should you?
With maturity comes the ability to adapt. This is one difference between an adult and an infant–and there are some pretty old infants out there. In other ways, however, because they haven’t formed opinions about a lot of things and lack the experience which can trick people into anticipating an outcome, kids can be far more adaptable than grown-ups. They can accept poverty, harsh living conditions, or sudden reverses in fortune, because for children, all things look equally inevitable. Children have softer bones and dispositions than older people, so they’re more apt to receive new impressions instead of repelling or opposing them. This is, like all our traits and gifts, both a blessing and a curse.
Old people can get set in their ways, become mentally as well as physically brittle. They can tell themselves that they know it all already, have seen it all before, and instead of struggling against the hardening of the arteries and the ossification of ideas, they can become as stubborn and willful as children who don’t know anything… often with the same harmful results.
The oldest and longest-lasting empire in the world was that of Chinese. That empire endured through the reigns of many emperors and many dynasties.
How was this possible? It wasn’t because of military power of tremendous wealth, because over the course of thousands of years, those things came and went many times. The real reason the Chinese empire lasted so long was because of the work of two very different philosophers. The first, Confucius, provided ideas that became the solid foundation of the imperial government. He supplied the theories by which the imperial government was conducted.
A strong individual is not a rigid individual. In fact, exactly the opposite is true. Strength comes from flexibility. Although it’s important to be firm when you know something is right and to maintain that right position even when the crowd is going against you and wants to put you down, it’s also important to remember that no person is God. Nobody is infallible or invincible.
Sometimes when the tide has run against you for a long time, it may be that what you held as a certainty was, in fact, not true in the light of overwhelming circumstances. It’s smart to be able to see more than one way to accomplish a task. It’s wise to see more than one solution to any problem. It’s a good skill to see things as someone else might see them. Because when the plan that’s served you so well for so long doesn’t work anymore, it’s time to find another way. It’s time to bend, to move on, to change, to compromise, or you risk snapping like a dead branch in a stiff breeze.
There are four ifs in the area of growth and change that make life worthwhile. First, life is worthwhile if you learn. There is nothing worse than being stupid. Learn from your personal experiences. Learn from other people’s experiences.
Second, life is worthwhile if you try. You’ve got to take what you’ve learned and see if you can try your hand at it. Somebody say, “You can’t try, you have to do.” No, you have to try.
I (Jim Rohn) put the bar up two feet and ask the kids, “Who can jump two feet?” “I can,” some say. “I can’t,” some say. “I don’t know,” some say. How are they going to know? They’ve got to try. Just back off and run at it. What if they knock the bar down? Does that mean they can’t jump two feet? No, they have to try it again another way. Maybe they need to start lower and build up to that height. When the record book on you is finished, let it show your wins and your losses. But don’t let the record show that you didn’t try.
Here’s what I (Jim Rohn) think would be a pitiful scenario: if your income grew and you didn’t grow. When your income takes some jumps, it’s vital that you quickly grow up to where your income is. Why? Because otherwise, your income will soon come back to where you are.
Somebody once said, “If someone hands you a million dollars, it’s best you become a millionaire, so you get to keep the money.” I’m telling you, success doesn’t want to hang around an incompetent person.
The problem with winning the lottery is the lack of self-development the person has gone through to be able to master and keep the money. The fortune is bigger than the person, rather than the person being bigger than the fortune.
How do you know when you’re successful? Do you have to be a millionaire? No, all we ask of you is that you earn all you possibly can. If you earn ten thousand dollars a year and that’s the best you can do, that’s enough. God and everything else will see to it that you’re okay. The key is to just do the best you can. If it’s ten thousand dollars a year, wonderful! If it’s a hundred thousand dollars a year, wonderful! If it’s a million dollars a year, wonderful!
It doesn’t matter whether you earn ten thousand dollars a year or a million dollars a year as long as you’ve done the best you possible can. The essence of life is growth. It is doing the best you possibly can.
Here is one powerful way to change and grow: cultivate your self-reliance. Take responsibility for your own life. Take responsibility for whatever happens to you. Know that you have consciously made the decisions that are now affecting you. Know that what is happening now, today, is the direct result of what you did yesterday.
Being self-reliant doesn’t mean that you can’t work with or trust others. In fact, it can make you a much more valuable teammate, partner, friend. Self-reliance means counting on yourself. Trusting yourself. Being responsible to yourself. Trusting your own instincts. Trusting the conclusions that you have developed from your study of experiences and philosophies. Taking the credit that is due you. Learning from the mistakes that you have made, and then passing that value on to others.
